Environmentalists are thrilled that Francis is lending his moral authority to provide an ethical foundation for action to stem climate change.His remarks come ahead of his eagerly awaited encyclical on climate change.

In a significant victory for press freedom, diamond billionaire Beny Steinmetz has failed in a bid to force Global Witness to hand over source material gathered in a corruption investigation after the UK’s data watchdog upheld statutory protections for public-interest journalism.

THE world has made enormous progress in recent decades in the fight against poverty. But, as 2014 draws to a close, 1bn people — one in seven— still live on less than $1 a day. Changing much-cherished bank- secrecy laws is worth the effort. Corruption, tax evasion, and the capture of natural-resource revenues undermine the rule of law, weaken the social fabric, erode citizens’ trust in...

At the end of 2015, the nations of the world will meet in Paris and attempt to hammer out a global deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions. And Pope Francis hopes that the world’s Catholics, as well as other major religions, will be a big part of serious climate action.